From a western context, such as in Germany and Italy, the rise of nationalism and nation-states was most related to: a) building strong alliances with France, b) uniting similar people and regions, c) granting absolute power to an emperor, or d) giving more power to local leadership?

Germany and Italy had the fact in common that for a long time in history they were not unified and were a big collection of small states. For them, nationalism and the creation of nation-states would be about b) uniting similar people and regions, - I think this is the correct answer!